Following on from Pothunting - When do you move up?

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dieseldog

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I will admit to knowing nothing about dressage and I was wondering following on from the Pot Hunting post at what score do you think you should move up to the next level?

Is it when you get 65%, 68% or 75%?

When you look at the results where do you draw the line and think the winner was a Pot Hunter?
 
In affiliated dressage it is when you are no longer eligible for the class you are in...i.e your points exceed the level below.

It has nothing to do with % scores.....they vary according to the range the judge is using.
 
People seem to have a problem with unaff and are only looking at the percentages people gain. Someone affliated can do unaffliated so what percentage at unaff would you get 'upset' by?

People don't seem to be logical enough to look at the range of scores that judges use.
 
To be honest in unaffiliated I am often competing against riders who would be in a different class to me in an affiliated competition....unaffiliated dont split into open and restricted...so in essence it is much harder to win an unaffiliated competition.

The judges used in unaffil are invariable unlisted and thus untrained so are quite possibly not applying the scales of training to their marking....so the qualify of the judging is questionable....but at the end of the day it is supposed to be fun.

I tend to do unaffiliated for practise or to qualify for an unaffiliated championship if the class is a qualfier.

You are right people do get hung up on percentages....which dont mean a lot really unless you look at the range used in the class.
 
Personally i feel that scoring consitantly at mid to high 60's is ready for the next level but thats because i have trained above the level i compete at home
 
I only compete unaffiliated, and not very often, but my plan is to listen to my instructor as to when I'm ready to move up! I'd rather get lower placings, and percentages at a higher level, and challenge myself, rather than staying in my comfort zone.

So, I'd look at moving up to novice if I was averaging over 65% in my prelim tests, and was able to carry out all the novice moves at home
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And then use the same criteria to move up to elem level, so once the lateral work is established I'd give it a go.

At the moment I can't even canter, so it's all academic!
 
Agree completely with fairhill. I'd rather move up the levels when I knew we could do the movements and thus challenging the horses and myself (would of course be working higher at home). I'd never cope sticking at prelim for ever, i would rather give up, but then that is just me who doesn't really enjoy dressage that much anyway!!
 
Well I dont do much dressage as I hate it (prefer to BE and BSJA!), so if I do it I only do unaffiliated purely for practice for BE. I have moved up to novice level this year only because thats the same sort of level required for BE novice! By choice I stay at prelim forever and have never gone above novice but I never do much of it to really progress!
 
Remember that dressage is about acheiving as close as possible to perfection. It is also a way of assessing your horses way of going to check that your training methods at home are acheiving the desired results. Unaff comps can be hit & miss, but in my experience if judges think somebody is out pot hunting, they will usually put in the comments box at the bottom of the test sheet that maybe it is time to move up a level or go affiliated. Personally I would rather do affiliated as you get much more constructive criticism from the judges & as it is run on a points system, you will rarely be against someone who is a pot hunter.
 
Difficult one.We are still eligable for prelim and have qualified with up to 79% in prelim qualifiers.He is doing novice as well and tends to get 65-75% but has only done a few.
We never qualifed for nationals last year and that is our aim, if we compete at a higher level it is easy to put yourself out of riding club comps and things that we can realistically do well in at national level.We want to keep the horse long term and he is not 6 till the summer.
We don't do much unaffiliated but you can actually compete in prelim all your life and never have to go out of it.This may seem not much of a challenge and unfair but if you want to have fun on your horse and not sell it on you have to be careful.
We hope to work on his lateral work and progress but in the meantime we also like to do some competing!
 
Think its probably the wisest thing to listen to your instructors advice.

People forget dressage training is progressive and if the rider takes the horse too fast up the levels it can cause problems later on if the foundation is not properly established. It would be a shame to ruin a fantastic horse because of impatience...seen it happen too often.
 
I personally feel you should move up as and when you feel you are ready. With the increase in the BD points zones this year, you'll have people going out at the level below again just because they can. I really really can't understand the point of this because both the horse and rider must have been ready to move on in the first place.
What's the point of rambling round a novice test knowing full well it isn't testing either of you!!!
 
I don't think it is results or percentages that would make me think someone was a Pothunter. I would tend to think it if I knew that the partnership had recent form at a much higher level, and no apparent reason to be in an easier class, particularly if they did it on a regular basis.

I don't do dressage, but in my case I would move up when I felt ready and comfortable with the movements of the higher level, and I was achieving consistantly good results at my current level. I don't think anyone should feel they have to rush to the next level, but I think once you move up, you shouldn't really be competing at more than one level below one you are currently competitive at - ie. doing Prelim if you are competing Elementary.
 
But surely the idea is to qualify for the regionals and then 'fingers crossed' the nationals. In doing that you use up your points allowance so have to move up.

The increase in the allowance is to stop horses being pushed through too quickly.....points disappear at an alarming rate once you get going.
 
I suppose that is where I differ from some. I compete because I enjoy having a goal for myself and my horse, not to qualify for the nationals.
I moved from unaff to aff because he'd been out and done well at unaff and I had no where to go!

ETS: and I didn't want to be a 'pot hunter' at unaff level!!
 
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I personally feel you should move up as and when you feel you are ready. With the increase in the BD points zones this year, you'll have people going out at the level below again just because they can. I really really can't understand the point of this because both the horse and rider must have been ready to move on in the first place.
What's the point of rambling round a novice test knowing full well it isn't testing either of you!!!

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Also, I know of someone who had 1 point at elementary on a horse which was then retired. They then got a just backed youngster but until the points buffer was introduced, they could not have aimed for Prelim regionals/nationals, which seems a bit unfair really. Now they can.
 
Fair enough...but those that choose to make the most of the 'points allowance' and try to qualify are hardly 'rambling round a novice test which isnt testing them'...nor are they pot hunters. I wont be moving up to elementary until I have given it my best shot at Novice....happy to do unaffiliated elementary tests for practise though.
 
They cant aim for the regionals and nationals at prelim level because they will be an open rider as the retired horse has elementary points. There is no open prelim class....they will also be an open rider at Novice too where the standard is generally much higher....still going to be a hard slog
 
So all those people who move up as soon as they are ready, once getting mid to high 60s scores, would none of you keep doing the level below to try and qualify for the regionals? And if you did, would that not fall under the definition you have of pothunting, which seems to be competing at one level when you are ready for another?
 
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They cant aim for the regionals and nationals at prelim level because they will be an open rider as the retired horse has elementary points. There is no open prelim class....they will also be an open rider at Novice too where the standard is generally much higher....still going to be a hard slog

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But they can because they have downgraded - only one point at elementary lets you I thought? Not that I do BD, but I am pretty sure they can (and have) downgraded so can do Prelim and Restricted Novice. Of course I could be wrong.
 
You cant downgrade the rider group........I think you can ask BD to look at your situation under the new point system if you are an unusual case. Your friend may fall in the 14 point buffer zone because she only has one point at elementary.....still dont think she would be able to do restricted prelim classes though....novice perhaps.

Am happy to stand corrected if anyone knows differently though
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Yes the new 14 point buffer zones would allow this, which I personally think is a very good idea for the exact example you stated.
 
personally, once I had qualified for the regionals I would try and limit the amount of further competitions at that level, more for conservation of getting too many points rather than pothunting concerns.
I would then move up a level if I felt ready and if not I would invest my time and money in training to get me to that level.
 
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